The Debutante (Season Series #2)

Chapter 27: Mindless of Manners

The queen, having finally torn her smiling eyes from Adelaide's, looked down to the piece of paper on the desk before her. I tried to hide my shaking hands by setting down my tea so I could clasp them in my lap. On one side, Ashley was bristling, clearly annoyed that she hadn't given the answer the queen was expecting. On the other, Adelaide was her usual perfect self, oozing calm as she waited demurely for the queen to speak again.

"Let's try one that's a little easier," the queen said, shooting an arch look at Ashley, "The kingdom is under attack. Your personal guards are the only ones left in the palace, defending you and your children and prepared to help you escape. If you send them to defend the gates, the palace staff and resident nobles will be given enough time to hide or escape, but you and your children will be killed or captured when the enemy inevitably breaches the palace defences and comes searching for you. If you don't send the guards away, you and your children will flee safely and survive the attack, but the rest of the palace will be massacred. What do you do?"

This time, the queen was looking straight at me, the challenge in her eyes setting my temper aflame. I was already squirming, annoyed with myself for having backed down in response to her first question.

"I would save the lives of the many at the expense of the few," I said. The queen's eyebrows leaped in surprise as Adelaide hiccupped on her tea.

"So you'd allow the heir to the throne to die," the queen said, her icy eyes unblinking as they glittered with blue fire.

"But those loyal to me would still be alive. If I'm to assume correctly, it was either to save myself and my children or the nobles that make up the king's council. It would seem that saving the council would be far more important after such a brazen attack than saving myself and my children, especially as it was unclear whether the king himself is alive or dead," I said, "If he were alive, I'm certain that the lives of his most loyal advisors would be of the utmost importance to help the kingdom recover from such a coup. If he were dead, then the advisors would be even more important in maintaining political stability. If his heirs are but children, they would be lost anyway without a strong contingent of loyal nobles to safeguard the throne until they come of age, especially if the kingdom is so weak that the walls of its palace were successfully breached."

"So you would value the lives of advisors over the lives of your own children?" she demanded.

"Absolutely not. But if I did nothing to attempt to save them, their powerful families would inevitably rebel against the throne and seize it from us in retribution. Besides, seeing as this is a hypothetical scenario, if I sent my guards away, I wouldn't be caught waiting with my children in the nursery for my enemies to come slaughter us. I'd be running fast and hard, away to somewhere safe," I fired back. The queen pursed her lips, her hands white as she pressed them flat against the desk.

"Adelaide?" she said, still staring down at the piece of paper. I was under the distinct impression that she was trying to control her temper and I felt a little dart of pleasure that I'd been the one to fluster her so.

"The choice is obvious," Adelaide said, shooting me a horrified look, "The lives of the heirs to the throne are far more important than servants and lesser nobles. I would sacrifice myself if needed, but under no circumstances would I send the guard away for the sake of my children."

My fingers itched to slap her. How did she always know the perfect thing to say?

"I would keep the guards too," Ashley piped up from my other side.

"Thank you, ladies," the queen said, her nostrils flaring as she inhaled a breath, finally turning her gaze up to look at me once again, "A village is petitioning for a new well to be dug at the expense of their local lord. The lord is in financial trouble himself and the new well would effectively bankrupt him. The villagers need the new well as the old one is suspected of harbouring disease. Do you force the noble to bankrupt himself to help the villagers or do you order the villagers to cart in water from the next town over?"